Tagwireyi-linked firm in BNC, Freda takeover bid

Sotic International, a Mauritian company linked to business mogul Kudakwashe Tagwireyi, is in negotiations with Asa UK Plc’s joint administrators over the takeover of both Bindura Nickel Corporation and Freda Rebecca Gold Mine Pvt Limited.

Asa UK Plc, which is currently under administration in London with Duff and Phelps the appointed administrator, has been in negotiations with several investors regarding the acquisition of assets and liabilities, which if successful, may have a material effect on BNC’s share price. Asa UK Plc is under administration following the discovery of a misappropriation of funds and gross corporate governance breaches.

Sotic International is among several suitors (some of them local, some Canadian, Australian and South African) that have expressed interest in Asa’s assets. Information gathered by Business Times points to the fact that the joint administrators have put up for sale all the mining group’s assets including those in South Africa and DRCongo.

Business Times is reliably informed that the joint administrators are holding out for about US$60m to $75m on the sale of both the Zimbabwe-based assets.

Contacted for comment, BNC chairman Muchadeyi Masunda confirmed that a company called Sotic was in negotiations with the joint administrators but no conclusion had been reached yet.

“This is happening at group level,” Masunda said, “and as BNC it is business as usual and production is getting better by each passing moment.”

Other shareholders in BNC are BancABC Asset Management, National Social Security Authority (Nssa) and Kenneth Musanhi through Suncraft Pvt Ltd. Suncraft is also the only minority shareholder in Freda Rebecca, with 15 per cent.

In a cautionary released on 8 August, Masunda noted that there was a transaction involving a 74.43 per cent takeover of the nickel miner.

“Shareholders are referred to the Cautionary Statement published on 8 August 2019 advising that the ultimate holding company of BNC, Asa Resource Group Plc (currently under administration), has entered into a SPA with a third party in relation to the 74.73 per cent shareholding in BNC,” said Masunda.

Efforts to get a comment from Tagwirei were fruitless as his phone rang unanswered and messages sent to his, number and Whatsapp messenger were not responded to at the time of going to print.